The St. Louis Blues closed out their road portion of the 2024-25 season in Seattle. They needed a win to hold a playoff spot and just for confidence.
Unfortunately, many of the bounces that went their way during that 12-game win streak are now going the other way. The Blues are going to have to make their own luck somehow.
The first period of the penultimate game against the Seattle Kraken was pretty mundane. It was similar to a boxing match in that there were a few jabs here or there, but both teams mostly just hugged one another.
It was about as nondescript as it gets. In fact, after an adjustment during the intermission, there were only eight total shots between the two teams, the fewest combined shots in any period this season.
The disappointing thing was, even though they only allowed five shots, the Blues still gave up the better of the chances. The Kraken had a handful of odd man rushes and Jordan Binnington made some key saves.
The Blues had a big push to open the second period. The Blues had three, quick shots right off the bat, but they couldn't get one in.
Then Seattle took the lead on an absolutely lucky play. The Blues fault was giving up an odd-man rush, but Nick Leddy made the right play by laying out to take away the pass.
Unfortunately, the puck went directly back to Jaden Schwartz, who had an empty net to shoot at since Binnington had to react as though the pass would connect. Seattle took the 1-0 lead just 3:44 into the middle frame.
St. Louis gave up a power play shortly after the goal, which is often a recipe for disaster. The Blues managed to kill it off with no shots allowed. Unfortunately, their power play didn't get the job done, despite hitting the goalie in the mask and getting some good passing.
The third period went pretty wild. The Blues tied the game a little over a minute in.
The fourth line got to work, and the defense got engaged. Faulk did good work behind the net and pushed it back out front. A quick shot from Leddy was stopped, but Walker knocked it over, and Radek Faksa had a great backhander to knock it off the goalie and in for a 1-1 game.
Though the Blues were the better team, it felt like it wasn't going to be their night with the way the Kraken regained the lead. Binnington kicked out a shot from an angle, and it again went directly to Seattle for another goal to make it 2-1.
That was at 6:44, and it blew the game open. St. Louis scored two goals in 13 seconds to take a 3-2 lead.
The tying goal came from the returning Colton Parayko, who took the feed from the middle and made a nice little forehand, backhand pass through the goalie. Then Nick Leddy unleashed a screened slap shot to make it a one-goal lead.
However, that didn't last long as the Kraken tied it about two and a half minutes later. A drive to the net went off Shane Wright's skate. It was more of a kicking motion than the broadcast crew thought, but there wasn't enough to overturn it since it was called a goal on the ice.
Both teams had a few looks after that, but it wasn't the push you wanted from the Blues at the end. In fact, the Kraken had better chances in the final couple of minutes, and Binnington had to be sharp to at least secure a point.
The Blues played reasonably well in overtime, but kept missing the net on their chances. Meanwhile, Binnington had to continue to be big, making some large kick saves to keep Seattle at bay.
Seattle got their first one to go, but the Blues countered with two on their first shooters, and Binnington made the save on Seattle's second. He couldn't stop a rip shot from Kappo Kakko, though, so the shootout continued 2-2.
We then went seven combined shooters without a goal before Seattle put the pressure back on, tucking it five-hole to make it 3-2. Jimmy Snuggerud had a good move to attempt a tying score, but his shot went wide, and the Kraken took the final game score, 4-3.
Con: Bad luck
I already know the blowback that is coming from fans. 17 shots against and three goals allowed mean Binnington stunk, and the defense wasn't much better.
It wasn't that way though. Seattle put themselves in good spots, but they were also very lucky on all three of their regulation goals.
The first one, Leddy makes the exact play you want a defenseman to make: force the pass and block the pass. It's bad luck that it went right back to Schwartz.
The second goal was just a long shot that cut across the grain. Every goalie would have stuck their pad out the way Binner did. The fact it goes right to the Seattle player is bad luck.
The third goal was a strong push by Wright and an example of being in the right spot. However, that puck could easily careen off the skate in any other direction or, in some instances, be called for kicking and the goal disallowed.
Pro: Getting Parayko going
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm still operating under the idea the Blues will be a playoff team. The team is as well.
That's why getting Colton Parayko in the lineup was important. Having him play a quality game was even better.
You could tell there was rust. He slipped once or twice and even mishandled the puck.
But he looked very comfortable on the offensive end, as shown by his goal. Getting that defensive edge might take a little longer, but hopefully, he has more than just the Utah game left in the season.
Con: Shootout
I hate shootouts and I don't care. You're allowed to like them, if you do. I hate them.
We don't end baseball games with a home run derby. I understand that it would likely be too taxing on players to have continuous overtimes in the regular season, but having a one-on-one contest between shooter and goalie that often ends in the best players on a team not even looking like the best players is not the way I want games to end.
Binnington wasn't as good as he needed to be, but neither were the Blues shooters. You're going up against a goalie who was shaken and you hit the post twice, with one accidentally going in and then miss the net completely several times.
This game was right there and the Blues didn't take it.
Overview:
The weird thing about these three, beyond the overall disappointment, is that they were all right there for the Blues. St. Louis didn't play well enough to deserve the win, but they also didn't play poorly enough to deserve the loss.
You have a rather poor game in Winnipeg, but only drop it 2-1. They could easily win that if they were as sharp as the previous 12.
The offense re-awakens against Edmonton, but the defense was shaky, and Binnington might have liked to play a couple of them slightly differently. Again, it was right there.
This game was disappointing because the Blues played into Seattle's hands. St. Louis was disappointed in the goals allowed in Edmonton, so they were hyper-focused on defense.
However, you have to know your opponent. Seattle was the worst first-period team in the NHL, so the Blues needed to come out hard, stomp them, and then park the bus.
Instead, they mustered only three shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. It's not just a St. Louis thing. That happens a lot around the league, but it's unacceptable.
Then, you get the offense to come to life and you can't hold a lead. The Seattle game was essentially everything that went wrong in Winnipeg and Edmonton wrapped into one game.
Now, the Blues and the fans must sweat it out against Utah. St. Louis has not fared well against Utah/Arizona the last handful of years.
Maybe Calgary will help the Blues out and lose, but as far as St. Louis is concerned, they have to win that game.
We all love the Blues dearly, but this might be the most Blues thing they can do. Win a franchise record of consecutive games to put yourself in a solid playoff spot, and then sputter at the end to put it back in jeopardy.